Disappointing to hear from a CEO that iPod is just a fad like Walkman. 300 million unit sold over 25 years is a fad. What can I say. Reckon IBM PC is also a fad since it lasted for about the same duration.

Well actually, IBM did think the PC was a fad. Thats why they subbed out the operating system to some pimply faced geek from Redmond, WA.

If they had thought it had serious implications, they would have done it right and done it in-house.

But everyone knows how that story ended. (can you say Lenovo?)

Vern Seward is the worst writer at TMO.

I had to take Journalism 101, and one of the first things they taught us was to avoid cliche'd editorials, such as 'the dictionary defines so and so as..."

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Guest wrote:
Vern Seward is the worst writer at TMO.

I had to take Journalism 101, and one of the first things they taught us was to avoid cliche'd editorials, such as 'the dictionary defines so and so as..."

Well then Dave Barry flunked Journalism 101 too. Wish I had his money, though.

Pulitzer prize winning journalism? No. A decent read? Yes.

Lighten up. You'll live longer.

Dellousy: When one technology company poo-poo's anothers great invention because they don't have the vision or capability to do it as well.

I guess if music is a passing fad, then the Dell DJ is also doomed. Oh wait, it already is.

This wasn't a hard news item or for that matter a serious editorial. The column title "just a thought" implies that it was more of a rumination/idle speculation/wool gathering piece and as such a more informal style is OK.

Anyway I like his writing style.

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geoduck wrote:
Anyway I like his writing style.

That doesn't surprise me.

Vern's writing style isn't that bad, resorting to dictionary definitions notwithstanding. That was a crappy definition for "fad" though.

I think Vern's writing is awesome. His writing contains a 'diaper load' of creativity. He is one of the main reasons I read the MacObserver.

Keep it coming Vern!

Since when is $300 million a fad?

what do you expect from Dell?

Just look at their insipid ad campaigns on TV ... the "dude", the less than intelligent interns ... the loser lying in bed calling Dell support efvery 2 minutes ... etc ... etc ...

For those of you who don't like what I write: that's fine. Don't read it.

For those of you who do, thanks for the vote.

Bryan let's me write whatever comes to mind about nearly any subject, which is why you get poems, fiction, and dictionary definition based pieces in my column. If you are looking for hard journalism, I am not your guy; I don't have the time and Bryan does not pay me enough to write bitting editorials. Beside, it's not me. I would not write stuff like that if Bryan did pay me enough; at least, not in this column.

As someone pointed out, the column is called Just A Thought. That's what it is about: It's a thought I've had on a particular subject and decided to share it. You don't have to like it, or agree with it, but if you read it and think about it, you might form an opinion of your own. You might also get a bit of entertainment too; I make feeble attempts at humor in most of my writing.

If you can't get with the program, have a nice life.

As for being the worse writier here at TMO, I'll agree. I suck, but don't tell Bryan. He actually pays me real money for this crap.

I should mention that I actually like the stuff I write, so I make no apologies (except for grammatical and spelling errors), for anything that appears in my column.


Vern Seward

I, too, enjoy his writing.

I hate reading robotic, "journalism 101" crap you find in the newspaper or stuck-up publications. Something should be written as to encourage people to read it (and have them enjoy it), not simply to follow some pathetic standard decided by the chumps who failed as journalists and went on to teach "Journalism 101."

That's why I love publications like TMO, MacAddict, and Apple-x: they add some personality to their articles; they're worth reading and they're entertaining.

Keep up the good work, Mr. Seward!

-Dan Pourhadi

More importantly, I like Vern's writing, and traffic to his column says that many of our readers do, too.

In a nutshell, that pretty much settles it, with an emphasis on the fact that I like it.

Bryan
Editor
TMO

How in heck can the CEO of Dell say the iPod is a fad when they are selling something to compete with it? If this is not a sustainable business concept then Dell is admitting they have no vision, that they are just going wherever the winds of change push them like a tumbleweed, and we all know what eventually happens to tumbleweeds. Didn't this guy even think about what he was saying? Amazing.
BTW I like Vern's columns. They make me stop and think about something I might not have paid any attention to (whoops!!). The underlying idea is way more important than the prose style.

Why do people want or need to define what and how someone should write? I love the internet because people can say what they want to say wihout worrying whether it will or will not be published. If you dont like his writing then don't read him. There are more places to find what you like or need. As for me, keep on keeping on, I like it.
Jim

I like Vern. I think his articles keep getting better. As for this, I wonder if Mr. Rollins is aware of his companies production of an iPod clone.

My iPod Photo isn't a fad. It lets me take my beloved photos with me wherever i am.. and ok, i'm not always looking at them, but when i do it makes the price i paid more than worth it!

dell make something like that? ...ehe, for sure.

btw. Vern column dosen't suck. his personal accounts are so much more interesting than the "he said, she said" stuff

If the iPod is a fad then the Model T, the Walkman, and the Amana Radarange were all fads as well. Sometimes a single product can change the paradigm so much that even after it goes out of production its effects can still be seen.

Apple has shown that a small stylish personal music device coupled with an easy way to purchase and download audio files can work. Eventually the iPod will be superseded by something that does the same thing better. That's the way of consumer products. In the mean time Apple will sell a heck of a lot of them, Dell won't, and I'd put money on the next best thing coming from Apple not Dell.

Aesop wrote the fable about the fox and the grapes about 2600 years ago and Kevin Rollins would be wise to heed its lessons and keep his ignorant-ass mouth shut.

The iPod was cool enough for Dell themselves to peddle just a few months ago. Then, Dell attempted to enter the market. I saw a guy at the gym last week wearing a Dell DJ. It looked like a medical device! I was about to yield my machine to him since he was handicapped, until I realized that he was simply retarded for buying the Dell POS.

Just because Apple is kicking Dell's ass in the digital music arena doesn't mean that Rollins ought to be dismissing that as "a fad." If he had any class, he'd take the defeat with grace and begin praying that Apple doesn't score more successes in areas that are closer to Dell's core competency: commodity computing.

It's interesting how Kevin Rollins' comments coincided with the release of the Mac mini. It's ridiculous to think that Apple will bury Dell this year, but they may worry that Apple's starting to "get it" according to their longstanding definition of "it."

You mentioned grammatical corrections being ok, so there's a minor typo here:
"I use to keep fresh water fish before I moved to Florida."

Should be "I used to ..."

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pourhadi wrote:
I hate reading robotic, "journalism 101" crap you find in the newspaper or stuck-up publications. Something should be written as to encourage people to read it (and have them enjoy it), not simply to follow some pathetic standard decided by the chumps who failed as journalists and went on to teach "Journalism 101."

I agree (though not quite as vehemently ). The use of cliches is one trap of writing, but another is to be a slave to proclaimed "rules"; correspondingly, it is a trap of judgment (to which students are prone, especially if their exposure to the subject is limited) to dismiss an article, and even a writer, because one of them is broken, without considering whether the "violation" is justified by the effect.

I wouldn't consider a dictionary reference as a cliche, cliches being almost always unfortunate, but as a standard device. It can be overused, but it has its place. If it helps make the point clearly and compactly, then it shouldn't be condemned. Intelligent expression of opinion, infused with personality, is valuable, and rarer than it should be. I wouldn't dismiss it just because it doesn't additionally provide great stylistic novelty, or worse, orthodoxy.

In the internet age, we might recall an older idea of the essay, with its sense of endeavor and incompleteness; which offers its own limitations and possibilities, and should be judged accordingly.

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Guest wrote:

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pourhadi wrote:
I hate reading robotic, "journalism 101" crap you find in the newspaper or stuck-up publications. Something should be written as to encourage people to read it (and have them enjoy it), not simply to follow some pathetic standard decided by the chumps who failed as journalists and went on to teach "Journalism 101."

I agree (though not quite as vehemently ). The use of cliches is one trap of writing, but another is to be a slave to proclaimed "rules"; correspondingly, it is a trap of judgment (to which students are prone, especially if their exposure to the subject is limited) to dismiss an article, and even a writer, because one of them is broken, without considering whether the "violation" is justified by the effect.

I wouldn't consider a dictionary reference as a cliche, cliches being almost always unfortunate, but as a standard device. It can be overused, but it has its place. If it helps make the point clearly and compactly, then it shouldn't be condemned. Intelligent expression of opinion, infused with personality, is valuable, and rarer than it should be. I wouldn't dismiss it just because it doesn't additionally provide great stylistic novelty, or worse, orthodoxy.

In the internet age, we might recall an older idea of the essay, with its sense of endeavor and incompleteness; which offers its own limitations and possibilities, and should be judged accordingly.

Agreed and well put.

In the purest sense, I suppose I can be considered a journalist; I write about news events, but my style is unorthodox, to say the least. I try not to conform to any defined standards when relating an idea because, when it is all said and done, it doesn't 'feel' right to me. That's because I like to tell stories, and I have a hard time being 'journalism 101' serious about anything. I think that shows up in my writing.

At any rate, how I write is how I write. As with any author of any writing, you'll either like my style, or you won't. As for the information my articles attempt to convey; if you get it, good; that was the point, and my style did not get in the way of you getting the point. If you don't get it, well, there are other writers writing about the same thing somewhere else, maybe you'll get it from them.

Thank you, and to everyone for posting your thoughts, both positive and negative, about my writing style. I welcome any and all constructive criticism from anyone.


Vern Seward

With a quarter of a billion downloads it's time to start comparing the success of the iTMS to the success of McDonalds. There will be competition but Bill Gates, Michael Dell, et al know that iTunes isn't going away anytime soon.

The above article sucks??? You got to be kidding. I found him one of the best writers in TMO and his column topic matches perfectly with what he writes. It is "Just A Thought" and those who read it should see that it is just a thought and could be anything. The author writes his own (personal) opinion and wants to write it the way he wants to. If you don't like his articles, then don't read it.